


Unspoken

by ScullyLovesQueequeg



Series: Fic Exchanges [3]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Awkward, Complete, Gen, The Rain King, UST, one bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 05:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20286163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScullyLovesQueequeg/pseuds/ScullyLovesQueequeg
Summary: Mulder and Scully have to share a room since Mulder’s got totaled.The prompt was: Mulder’s clothing and toiletries are unsalvageable following the destruction of his hotel room, and since a good portion of the town has lost power following the storm, all of the department stores have closed. How will Mulder and Scully cope with being in such close proximity to one another with no power and only Scully’s toiletries? Will a switch be flicked?





	Unspoken

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flicked_switch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flicked_switch/gifts).

> My entry for the 2019 Episode Exchange. I’m really sorry that this didn’t come out like Elise wanted. I hope she still likes it. I didn’t realize until most of it was already written that I had missed some things had asked for.

“It’s a cow alright. Poor thing. The guy said the wind just lifted it straight into the air and into his room.”

The pair of men eyed the dying animal, and deciding to do it a kindness, one of the men produced a gun and fired a round into the animal. The other man removed his hat and lifted his eyes to the hole in the ceiling.

“What a mess.”

Mulder watched from the door, and pressed his back to it, his eyes averting when the shot was fired. He slipped out of the room altogether when the men started speaking again. He didn’t need that image in his head.

_ ‘How the hell do I explain this to Scully? Holman wanted that cow to hurt me. I know it. A tornado that dissipated as soon as it tossed the cow into my room? No one would believe that. But I know Holman is behind this.’ _

“Mulder,” The unmistakable, breathy tone was enough to give him pause, and he turned to face his partner, Dana Scully. “I heard someone’s room got destroyed. There was a loud noise...”

“That would be mine,” Mulder said, holding up his hand and approaching her cautiously. She was dressed in a silk robe, and had a nightgown which did not lend itself to any modesty.

“Oh no, what happened?” Scully examined Mulder visually, noting that he seemed to be for the most part okay, if not a little shaken up.

“A cow destroyed my room.”

“A cow?”

“Yes,  _ bos taurus _ . If it matters, it was a Holstein,” Mulder added, his tired features lending more credence to his claim. He gently massaged his forehead.

“A cow… crashed into the room?” Scully repeated, as she stared at Mulder; it sounded like bullshit. But the look of annoyance on Mulder’s face told her that he had not wanted to bother her.

“You can go check, I’m not—I’m not even sure… I saw it right, I mean… one moment I was reading the newspaper and the next, the cow is being lifted into the air and hit the roof. I just managed to roll out of the way,” Mulder said, rubbing at his arm and feeling something wet. He glanced down, and as soon as he thought it, Scully vocalized the thought:

“Mulder, you’re bleeding…”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Mulder dismissed her concern, waving his hand, but Scully caught his arm and turned it over, revealing a gash. Her eyes flicked up and met his.

“You’re hurt,” She spoke, and his eye caught the way her lips moved when when spoke. Her bottom lip caused him to curl his other hand into a fist, just to stave off the desire to catch it between his teeth. 

_ ‘No, this is the worst time to want her.’ _

“It’s nothing serious,” Mulder answered, a beat late. Scully gave him a look that somehow contained an entire lecture, as she continued to examine his arm, her fingers gliding across his skin. 

It felt like she was checking him out, almost, but her eyes were fixed on the wound. After a couple of more moments in which Scully examined his wound, she flagged down the town doctor to help Mulder.

“Where are you going?” Mulder asked, watching as Scully turned to leave. She paused and looked at him, as if he had suddenly appeared before her.

“I’m going to—I’m going to talk to someone...” She murmured, heading towards the management office. Mulder watched as she walked away, and heard the town doctor chuckle.

“She’s very attractive, if you don’t mind my saying. How long you two been together?” 

Mulder glanced at the doctor, reading his expression and sensing the innuendo. 

_ ‘He thinks we’re dating.’ _

“We aren’t—she’s… she’s just my partner,” Mulder replied, walking as the doctor lead him to the ambulance and began to clean his wound.

“Oh is that what you’re calling it?”

“No, I mean she’s actually my partner. We’re FBI,” Mulder corrected, as he spotted the owner of the motel talking to Scully. The woman made her way over to the ambulance and Scully was not far behind, looking even more annoyed. Mulder felt a pang of guilt.

Scully walked beside the owner of the motel, her hand fanning away the cigarette smoke that was blown in her face. The pair of them walked towards the ambulance where Mulder was sitting and being treated.

"We moved your boyfriend's things into your room," The woman said, stopping a couple of feet from where Mulder's arm was being stitched up. Scully breathed out an annoyed sigh from her nose. The bureau didn’t cover exceptions for incidents of cows raining from the sky.

"He's not my boyfriend, and he can't share the room with me. We need seperate rooms," Scully tried to explain, but the woman turned to face her, giving Scully an exasperated look.

"Honey, unless he's OK with sleeping in his car, there's no other place I can put him. We're all booked up for the reunion. You're welcome to try elsewhere, but…" The woman stopped abruptly, trying to decide her next words carefully, without causing any offense to Scully.

Scully made a gesture for her to continue speaking. She drew her robe about her tightly as a sudden cold breeze blew through.

"Well, with the freak tornado and other strange weather, the power is out in half the town. We're one of the few places that still has power,” The owner of the hotel said, taking one last drag of her cigarette and tossing it to the ground. Scully swallowed, watching the woman’s foot ground out the cigarette just as Holman, the local meteorologist, approached the scene.

“I guess I don’t have a choice,” Scully relented, but the woman placed a hand on her shoulder.

“If it really is that big of a deal, we can bring in an extra mattress. But the room is small, so, there’ll be even less space, unless he doesn’t mind the couch…”

“I’m sure he won’t,” Scully remarked.

* * *

Mulder glanced up at the door as he settled onto the couch just across from Scully’s bed. He was already in his pajamas—a t-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms. He had his things localized to a small corner of the room, including cold case files which were strewn haphazardly on the recliner just beside the couch. He knew that Scully was busy trying to somehow find a way out of sharing a room with him, and if he was being honest with himself, it hurt. It was as if she couldn’t stand his company. He offered to take the couch, but she had just not wanted him in the room at all.

“I’m afraid I have bad news,” Scully spoke as she strolled into the room a short while later. She stopped just shy of the doorframe and held onto the doorknob, almost as if anticipating that she would have to leave again.

“Holman made it rain?” Mulder guessed, and Scully gave him a dull look.

“N-no, no, why would you… no, he didn’t. Holman can control the weather just about as well as Daryl can, which is to say he can’t. That’s not what I wanted to tell you, though. I called around and true to the owner’s word, there aren’t any vacancies for this weekend in the 5 other places I called,” Scully spoke, her arms folded over her chest.

“I see,” Mulder said seriously, though if he was being fully honest with himself, he didn’t mind sharing a room with Scully. Scully, on the other hand seemed thoroughly annoyed.

“So… unfortunately, it looks like we’re sharing. It gets even worse,” Scully continued, though Mulder muttered sarcastically,

“Worse than sharing a room with me? I don’t see how.”

“That freak incident with the tornado, also knocked out a couple power lines. So until the line men can get out here and fix that… half the town is without power. That means, we can’t go to the store to get you new toiletries. So, I guess we’re sharing those, too.” Scully said, not looking at Mulder.

“I’m really sorry,” Mulder said, glancing over and frowning. He felt awful, like a huge burden, and for the first time, he felt like hiding from Scully.

“How did this even happen? You said your bag got ruined?”

Mulder nodded, his fingers twirling a pen absently.

“So, apparently, using a forklift or whatever to move the dead cow was too much, so they bled it and cut it up for meat to move it out of the room. Unfortunately, my bag was in a part of the room that was inaccessible, so it became a causality while they were cutting up the body,” Mulder explained. Scully let out a long sigh and sat on the edge of the bed. 

“It’s not so bad,” Mulder said, sitting up, and regarding her the way he would a maudlin friend, “And it’s only for a night. Our flight’s out by tomorrow.”

Scully gave Mulder a small smile, but crawled to the head of the bed, to slip under the covers.

“Well then, I’m going to go back to sleep then. We still have to close up some loose ends and hopefully convince the rest of the people Daryl’s swindled to file charges. Do you know what stuff you need? Like clothes, a toothbrush…?”

“Ah, well, I’m okay with clothes—I have the overnight bag in my trunk, and I think an extra dress shirt. I left my toothbrush and toothpaste in the bathroom, and some other random stuff. I’ll just borrow stuff off you… now, the only thing I need is another toothbrush, unless…”

“I don’t even want you to finish that. That’s disgusting.”

Mulder furrowed his brow in indignation.

“How is that  _ any _ different than if I had say… kissed you? Isn’t that the same thing?”

There was a long, awkward silence, and finally, Scully said,

“I’m not interested in doing either with you. That is absolutely disgusting. You can use my mouthwash. Sharing a toothbrush and kissing someone are two different things, Mulder,” Scully said, and with that, she turned her back on him.

“Turn off the light,” Scully said quietly. Mulder sighed and did as he was told, climbing back onto the couch when he was done.

“Good night, Scully,” Mulder said, turning so that his back was to her as well. 

“Good night, Mulder,” Scully said, though she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her mind off of Mulder.

* * *

“We should have stayed, it’s not every day we get to let loose and go to a party,” Mulder said, as he and Scully walked from Kroner High to the car. 

“Yeah, well, I haven’t eaten yet,” Scully replied with a little bite in her tone.

“You should have, they had food at the reunion. Was it just not up to your impossibly high standards?” Mulder quipped. The smell of rain was still heavy in the air, and there was an unspoken tension between them, that Mulder couldn’t put his finger on. When Scully didn’t reply to his comment, he reached out and touched her arm. She glanced at him, and he could see a slow realization dawn on her.

“Is everything okay? I didn’t make you feel bad, did I?” Mulder asked, but Scully’s mind remembered the kiss that him and Sheila shared. At first, she found it funny, but Shelia’s behavior, her words, and the way she looked at Mulder reminded Scully that even if he didn’t see it, he was an attractive man and it would be a matter of time before he would find someone who would replace her, like his other partners.

“I’m just tired and hungry. But mostly tired,” Scully said, her eyes avoiding his. Mulder could tell she was lying.

“You know, when you and Sheila ran off to the bathroom… Daryl and Holman were just about ready to kill me. They both thought that I wanted her and that she was convinced that I was going to marry her or something. It wasn’t until she came back and realized that Holman really cared about her that I started thinking. How could someone work so close to someone like they did and never notice that? How could she not notice that Holman loved her? It really got me thinking,” Mulder said, stopping just beside the driver’s side door. Scully held his gaze from her side of the car.

“About?”

“You,” Mulder said. There was a long pause and then he continued, “You remind me of Sheila in a way. That was really it.”

Scully turned his words over in her mind. 

_ ‘I remind him of Sheila? Is he saying that I’m missing something?’ _

“Mulder, I…” Scully felt a lump form in her throat as she recalled the last clear memory she had before she had gotten stung and woke up in Antarctica: Mulder leaning in to kiss her. When they got back, they had never brought it up, nor did Mulder try to kiss her again. She assumed that he probably thought she didn’t remember it. But she did. Of course she did.

She remembered the way his lips brushed against hers, the way when she pulled away, he murmured an apology. She remembered his hands, strong and worried, moving to find the tiny winged culprit that had interrupted them. She remembered going weak, Mulder catching her, passing out, waking up naked, cold and weak, but Mulder was there.

When he told her the things he went through to get her back and didn’t mention the kiss that preceded it, she knew he considered it a mistake.

“I guess I don’t see what you mean,” Scully finally said, opening the door to her side of the car and climbing in. Mulder did the same, and then fiddled with the seatbelt. More than once, it would catch, but once he corrected it, it did not happen again.

“It’s okay,” Mulder said, after a long silence passed and Mulder started up the car. Scully let her head rest against the window, staring at the spots of dirt that had formed from the rapid weather changes.

“You know, Sheila said you were a good kisser,” Scully started after a couple minutes. Mulder chanced a glance in her direction, but shifted it back to the road.

“She did? There was hardly any input from my end. She kind of ambushed me. But… I’m glad at least someone doesn’t find the thought of kissing me repulsive,” Mulder said, and Scully instantly regret bringing it up.

“I’m sorry about what I said regarding the toothbrush. I just… I just don’t think it’s very sanitary. But I shouldn’t have said that it was disgusting. I’m sorry about that,” Scully said.

“We see a lot on this job, and I’ve almost never heard you call anything disgusting, so when you said that, it really hurt. It made me feel like you find  _ me _ disgusting,” Mulder continued, his fingers raking through his hair. Scully could see that her comment had bothered him.

“For what it’s worth… I wouldn’t be opposed to kissing you. The last time it almost happen, we’d gotten interrupted. I just… I don’t know Mulder…”

Mulder sighed softly, but glanced over again.

“It was a mistake, I shouldn’t—I just misread the situation. I promise it won’t happen again,” Mulder said.

_ ‘But that’s what I’m so afraid of. That it won’t happen again and that I gave up something good…’ _

* * *

Scully hung up the phone and let out a heavy sigh that caused Mulder to look over from where he was adjusting the TV’s antenna.

“Our flight got moved to tomorrow morning, so we’re here another night,” Scully said, wandering over to sit on the bed.

“I see,” Mulder said, leaving the TV, and rubbing his side a little. Scully watched him.

“Something wrong?”

“Oh, no, my side’s just a little sore from the couch. My couch is designed to be slept on. This one isn’t. I was kinda hoping we wouldn’t have to spend another night here but… I guess it’s better than being caught in a snowstorm. I’ll sleep out in the car tonight,” Mulder said, opening his suitcase and taking out the things he needed for a shower.

“Mulder… I had no idea,” Scully said honestly. She felt horrible, knowing that Mulder had been uncomfortable and hadn’t said a word. She watched the way he moved, and again, remembered how Sheila had wanted him so badly.

_ ‘But she doesn’t know Mulder,’  _ Scully reasoned. _ ‘She doesn’t know the way he gets when he’s obsessed with something, she didn’t know the near dread that surfaced when the hospital calls. The OPR meetings, the sudden trips, the hunches, everything. She only knew that he was good looking.’ _

Mulder shrugged.

“I didn’t want to make you feel bad, you were already sharing the room with me and I didn’t want to make it worse,” He said, walking towards the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower.”

When Mulder stepped out of the bathroom, Scully glanced over, and she wished she hadn’t. He was running a corner of the towel through his hair, but it didn’t matter, because that wasn’t what she was paying attention to. He walked from the bathroom to sit on the edge of the bed diagonally from her, and she saw  ** _it_ ** .

“Mulder,” Scully murmured, her face pink. Mulder glanced up at her, as if to ask what she wanted, but her eyes fell into his lap, and it took Mulder a moment to connect the dots.

“Oh Christ,” He murmured, adjusting the way he was sitting and using the towel to cover his lap. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize…”

Scully couldn’t help but smirk, but at the same time, she wished that she could shrink into non-existence. She had seen the very clear outline of his cock, and while she was no prude, it was a strange way to regard her partner, who seemed to be equally embarrassed.

If she was being honest, she was pleasantly surprised by it. She would never admit to it, but she was guilty of her fantasies as well. Their time spent together so close to each other had only made her feel as though she was going to cross a line. 

“I think this is probably why they tell us that we shouldn’t share a room,” Mulder murmured, and Scully agreed, rubbing her cheeks. She stood up, and opened her suitcase to get her things as well. Mulder took that as a sign to leave, so he began folding the blanket he had been using on the couch.

“Oh, you’re leaving,” Scully said, almost sounded slightly disappointed. Mulder looked over, and she glanced away, still pink.

“Yeah. Kind of want to throw myself into the sun, really. I’m so sorry you had to see that,” He apologized again.

“...I’m not offended… I mean… I’ve always wondered... you’ve seen me naked twice now, so… what’s a little nudity between friends?”

Mulder felt his face grow hot.

“You make it sound like I had a choice both times in the matter. I mean, you literally came over and dropped your robe for me, and the second time you were incapacitated… I wouldn’t—I wouldn’t take advantage of that or anything…”

Scully let out a little laugh, but she stopped rubbing her face and held his gaze.

“Mulder, I—I trust you. More than anyone I’ve ever trusted before and… I just—I wanted you to know that my not wanting you here isn’t because of what I’m afraid you might do… it’s just protocol, but… if you promise to just… not tell, you can join me in bed,” Scully relented. Mulder opened his mouth to protest, but she was already on her way to take a shower. When she closed the door behind her, Mulder let out a relieved sigh and climbed into the bed to watch TV.

When Scully came out of the bathroom, she had her robe wrapped around her, to cover up the fact that she was aroused by the idea of Mulder sharing the bed with her. Mulder didn’t seem to notice, but to his credit, he was lightly dozing on the bed. Shedding her robe, she climbed into bed with Mulder, leaving room between them. Feeling the shifting weight of the mattress, Mulder woke, and when he saw that Scully was in the process of getting under the covers, he got up to turn off the TV, and the lights. He climbed back into bed with Scully, leaving the same amount of room between them.

“Good night, Mulder,” He heard him say.

“Good night, Scully… and thank you,” Mulder said. She was facing away from him, so she couldn’t see his face, which she was thankful for.

Sleep didn’t come easy for Scully. She couldn’t bring herself to, she didn’t feel right having Mulder so close and still unable to let herself go with him. He must have had the same issue, though because after about an hour of laying there, she heard him speak.

“Scully…?” He whispered, to check if she was awake. Scully didn’t reply, pretending to be asleep to see what he was planning. He didn’t say anything else, and for a moment, she thought he had gotten up, since she felt the bed move, but to her surprise, Mulder had moved closer. Without a word, she felt his arms envelope her, from behind. She could feel his body pressed against hers, and her brain screamed for her to shove him and yell, but her heart gave in, and she allowed him to hold her in his arms, her heart racing with excitement.

“You’re awake,” He whispered, pulling away from her. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” Mulder admitted.

“No, you’re… it’s okay. I didn’t mind,” Scully whispered back, but Mulder didn’t move again. “How did you know I wasn’t sleeping?”

“I could feel your heartbeat… it was going too fast. I… I thought I had scared you. I’m sorry. I’ll sleep in the car,” Mulder said, getting up, but Scully turned to face him, reaching out to grab his wrist.

“Please stay… I really didn’t mind. I… probably could sleep better if you held me. Please. You make me feel safe,” Scully admitted. She dropped his hand however, suddenly ashamed of the admission. Mulder didn’t seem to mind, however and he rejoined her and took her into his arms.

“Thank you for letting me stay with you,” Mulder said softly. But Scully didn’t answer, since she had fallen asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to:  
1) Monika for moral support when I was ready to quit  
2) Katie for reassuring me many, many times that my writing is okay  
3) Anna for encouraging me  
4) Nicole for putting this together  
5) Anyone who has read this far, left a comment or kudos. Maybe one day I’ll make a recommendation list! (Hint hint...)


End file.
